The Generation Of Forward Thinking

Tintu was on his way to work, standing and sipping his steamy coffee as he waited for his suburban train to arrive. Just then he heard a distinct ping, hurriedly he checked his phone, only to find a Whatsapp forward on his family group. This occurrence would be very relatable to most Indians in the present day. The inception of Whatsapp back in 2009 was primarily for effective free communication. This slowly evolved to people sending tons of unnecessary personal messages and presently, we are in the forwards’ era. One cannot deny the benefits of quick communication, but the flip side is that with over 1 billion users connected, news spreads fast and fake news, even faster.

The initial phase was spammers sending links to loot curious folks off their cash. This progressed to various political parties spreading ideologies and the pace escalated to communal riots, lynchings and even landed an admin in jail. The most extreme and shocking usage of this media platform were plots discussed to plan terrorist attacks and ways to traffic sex slaves. All of this coupled with cyber-security issues and malware has warranted for drastic action and more sensible usage.

Whatsapp tried to curb many of these issues by upping the security levels and by limiting the number of groups a message can be forwarded from 20 to 5. In the most recent step,approximately two million accounts have been banned for sending bulk messages, and cease and desist letters have been sent to companies claiming to offer such services. The organization can take measures, but it is we as users who can make the most difference. People must not be naive enough to believe whatever is sent to them, they must verify any information with a credible source before they believe it. Further, social media must not be exploited to political agendas and spread hatred on the basis of religion, sex, caste or creed and action must be taken against any such misuse. In this generation, “ Think before you forward”.